TBS to Form Capital Alliance with NTT Docomo, Others

TOKYO, Aug. 29 (Kyodo) — Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings Inc. said Thursday it will sell its own shares for a total of 11.9 billion yen to NTT Docomo Inc. and three other Japanese companies to form capital and business alliances.

Under the deal, NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile phone carrier, will pay about 7 billion yen to acquire about a 3 percent stake in TBS as it eyes distributing the TV broadcaster's movie contents to its smartphone users.

NTT Docomo is also considering cooperating with TBS in the area of online sales of tickets for music and other events organized by the broadcaster.

The broadcaster will utilize the capital to be raised through the share sales for equipment investment to deal with next-generation high-resolution broadcasting. It will also use the money to develop a system to distribute information to smartphones of people taking part in its cultural and other events.

For NTT Docomo, TBS will be the third major private broadcaster to have a stake.

The other three companies to buy TBS shares are Mainichi Broadcasting System Inc., Mitsui & Co. and Wowow Inc.